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CAR PERFORMANCE |
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Our objective in this series of articles is to investigate some techniques for analysing the performance of motor cars. This means, if we want to make some progress, solving equations and making use of Newton's laws of motion. We can make a fait bit of progress without getting too complicated though. |
The motion of motor cars, just like any other object or body, is determined by a number of simple laws developed by Isaac Newton in the 17th century. From these laws, we can develop some simple expressions that relate the speed of the car to the applied forces, and if we make some simple assumptions about the nature of the applied forces, we can relate these back to the torque and power developed by the engine of the car. After all, these are the number most often quoted by manufacturers.
The first two sections describe some basic principles, including precisely what we mean by the terms torque and horsepower, including conversions between different measurement units. The final three sections set about the task of determining performance measures in terms of these quantities.
Click on one of the links below to get started.